“Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Such was life in the healthcare information technology sector this month. We collectively faced daunting cyber circumstances and peered into an optimistic future filled with the possibilities of A.I., resilient and redundant networks, and healthcare interoperability for all.
Spotlight
Our Response to the Change Cyber Incident
UHIN is dedicated to maintaining interoperability for all payers, providers and partners. When an event as large as the Change Healthcare cyber incident impacts our community, we know we need to serve as a bridge to stable ground. Read more about the actions we’re taking to support our community at this time.
We’re actively supporting Providers by expediting enrollment with Payers to get claims flowing again. Providers can leverage our solutions to create and send professional and institutional claims, submit via SFTP, file tool or online hand-entry, check claims status, manage denials and rejections, and search, view, and download payment information.
We can connect with health plans, so they may receive claims from providers through a direct connection to our clearinghouse. Empower your provider network by elevating your collaboration efforts, securely sharing information and data, and providing better affordable care for your members.
The alarming rise in cyber threats – namely ransomware – highlight the urgent need for enhanced cyber resiliency and robust security measures in healthcare. Read our recent blog post with five ways to reduce your risk and secure personal health information (PHI) from cyberattacks.
HIMSS shared their recap of the 2024 Global Health Conference & Exhibition (March 11-15 in Orlando). Cybersecurity, A.I.,and health equity and access to care delivery were big themes this year. What were you most excited to learn at HIMSS this year?
We’re preparing a series of online trainings for CHIE users this year. Explore our new platform and share feedback with our HIT experts. Stay tuned for updates on upcoming trainings.
Wrapping Up
Thriving in Complexity from the Comagine Health Blog
Comagine Health President and CEO Marc Bennett addresses how the organization has been managing competing tensions while building partnerships to serve as a prime contractor for the 13th Statement of Work in the Midwest CMS QIN-QIO Region 6.
Thanks for spending this extra day going around the sun with us. In February, we dove into the 2023 CAQH Index Report and prepared for the CHIE’s migration to a new platform.
One more thing: For our providers experiencing disruptions in their claims management due to the Change cyberattack, we’re here to help. Please contact us to fast track your enrollment with payers at customersuccess@uhin.org.
Spotlight
Black History Month and American Heart Month
In February we recognized Black History Month and American Heart Month. Here are just a couple ways to support and celebrate these causes throughout the entire year:
For health care professionals and clinicians, use the resources in the Center for Disease Control (CDC) heart toolkit to support their patients, especially women, by listening to their heart.
In Utah? Dive into Utah’s rich black history at the Utah Black History Museum! Find the mobile exhibit across Utah this year or consider donating.
HIT News
The CHIE is Moving to a New Platform!
The new platform empowers CHIE users to better understand patient populations, provide greater care, reduce waste while improving quality, and pinpoint at-risk patients to intervene before their next encounter.
After consulting with our community’s advisory committee, we will be migrating five years of data with the exception of opt out consents, immunizations, allergies, and colonoscopies for which a longer history will be migrated.
Technical implementation is currently underway and we anticipate user migrations will start in Q2 of 2024. We will keep all CHIE users informed of our progress via email.
We published two blog posts sharing our thoughts on the most recent CAQH Index released earlier this month. How did electronic transaction adoption and healthcare administration change in 2023 for both providers and payers? Keep reading to find out.
Our CEO, Brian Chin, recently attended ViVe 2024. Artificial Intelligence was a hot topic this year, as you may have expected. Check out a few photos from the conference here.
Are you going to HIMSS 2024? Let us know what you’re most excited to see while in Orlando next month at communications@uhin.org.
Trainings and Webinars
CHIE platform trainings
We have online trainings coming up for the new CHIE platform. Please sign up for CHIE updates and our Events notifications to add these to your calendar so you don’t miss a thing!
Wrapping Up
Share your story, plus looking ahead to March
Do you have something your peers in healthcare and tech just have to know about? An innovative interoperability solution or point of view? Please email us at communications@uhin.org and we’ll include links to our favorite community content each month.
Next month we’ll attend HIMSS 2024 and help to raise awareness of the risks and symptoms of diabetes on American Diabetes Alert Day (March 26).
Join our monthly newsletter and don’t miss anything!
More than one in four elderly people (ages 65 and older) suffer from a fall every year. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics demonstrate that just one fall is a preamble to a far scarier story:
Falling just one time can double the chances of that elderly person falling again, which could lead to death
20% of falls result in serious injury
Less than 50% of those who suffer from a fall will tell their doctor
“Falls among adults 65 and older caused over 36,000 deaths in 2020, making it the leading cause of injury and death for that group.”(CDC, Older Adults Fall Prevention)
Many falls are preventable and, as mentioned above, approximately half go unreported. Providers can stay informed with predictive information about their elderly patients to anticipate falls and take action to keep our senior population healthy.
How to Stay Informed: Falls Risk Indicator
One source of information for providers to help fill this reporting gap is Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data on non-transport falls. To help address this issue, UHIN partnered with Utah’s National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS).
UHIN ingests EMS non-transport fall information from NEMSIS and uses it in conjunction with patient age and past encounter diagnoses that have been reported to the CHIE to provide a yes/no risk assessment of a patient’s risk of falling in the short term. Utilizing the CHIE’s Falls Risk Indicator, providers receive timely information about potential falls within their patient population, empowering them to contact patients with the right support to keep them healthy and independent.
In addition to the Falls Risk Indicator, notification alerts include data pertaining to the patient’s condition and can include LACE scores to help caregivers prioritize care. LACE scores are industry indicators that assign a score on a scale of 1-19 assessing the patient’s risk of readmission. The score is a combination of the L:length of stay in a hospital (in number of days), A: acuity of admission, C: comorbidities, and E: emergency department visits in the last 6 months.
What is a Patient Event Notification?
Notifications about patients which physicians can receive as a file at their preferred frequency (real time, daily, weekly, monthly) by logging into MYUHIN or integrated into their EHR.
CHIE Alerts with Falls Risk Indicator and LACE Score
CHIE Alerts are automated electronic notifications informing providers about an event their patients have recently experienced. Admission, Discharge and Transfer (ADT) Alerts fill in the missing pieces necessary to manage patient care. The Falls Risk Indicator and LACE Score may be included in CHIE Alerts.
Providers opt-in to receive notifications because they’re an important component of continuity of care. Providers can identify the patients who require critical intervention and schedule follow-up appointments after hospitalizations. Notifications help prevent readmissions, improve care coordination and patient experiences. An additional benefit includes revenue integrity; by allowing providers to bill the appropriate level code, which may be of a higher value in instances of transition of care patients.
For Granger Clinic, CHIE Alerts helped their Transition of Care Management (TCM) team increase the number of patients identified as needing TCM from about one per week to an estimated 750 per month. Additionally, CHIE Alerts helped the Granger TCM team decrease readmission rates by 61%.
Payers that receive alerts can route patients into case management, which helps to reduce high emergency room department utilizations through increased visibility into member care activities and utilization trends.
Alerts can be tailored by type, such as inpatient, outpatient or emergency, and frequency based on needs and desires. Community providers and payers can receive notifications by subscribing to the CHIE Alerts service and providing UHIN with a panel of patients representative of the population for which they are providing care.
Click below to sign up to receive CHIE Alerts that include a Falls Risk Indicator and LACE Score.
This notice is to inform you of important updates to the UHIN Requirements. The UHIN Requirements are the standards, specifications, policies, procedures, and guidelines that apply to the UHIN Network. All UHIN members contractually agree to comply with the UHIN Requirements (and changes thereto) as part of their participation in the UHIN Network and their use of UHIN’s clearinghouse, clinical health information exchange (CHIE), and related services.
The UHIN Board of Directors—which is comprised of community stakeholders from the Utah healthcare community—recently approved the addition of a Member Policies and Procedures Manual (Version 1) (the “Member Manual”) to the UHIN Requirements. The Member Manual supports our community’s compliance with the 21st Century Cures Act interoperability mandates as well as health information privacy, security and breach notification laws. The updated UHIN Requirements may be found at https://support.uhin.org/s/article/Member-Policies-And-Procedures-Manual.
The Member Manual includes the following policies applicable to all members:
Data Submission Policy
Security Specifications and Network Maintenance Policy
Security Event Reporting Policy
Minimum Necessary Procedure
Individual Rights Policy
The Member Manual also contain the following CHIE specific policies to support compliance with the federal prohibition on information blocking:
The CHIE No Information Blocking Policy
The CHIE Notice and Opt Out Policy
The CHIE Permitted Purpose Policy, including expanded permitted purposes that fully support HIPAA-permitted treatment, payment and health care operation activities of health care providers and health plans, as well as UHIN’s uses of CHIE data to support limited public health activities, research and data analytic services (collectively, the “Expanded Permitted Purposes”).
The Member Manual is effective as of January 1, 2024.
For organizations or agencies that have, may, or are a CHIE data supplier: pursuant to our current contract, CHIE members who make clinical data available through the CHIE must consent to the Expanded Permitted Purposes. Please sign and return the attached form indicating your affirmative consent to the Expanded Permitted Purposes no later than January 1, 2024. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR ORGANIZATION’S OR AGENCY’S CONTINUED PARTICIPATION IN THE UHIN NETWORK AFTER JANUARY 1, 2024 CONSTITUTES YOUR ORGANIZATION’S OR AGENCY’S IMPLIED CONSENT TO THE EXPANDED PURPOSES. IF YOUR ORGANIZATION OR AGENCY DOES NOT CONSENT TO THE EXPANDED PERMITTED PURPOSES, YOU MUST SEND UHIN YOUR WRITTEN NOTICE OF INTENT TO TERMINATE PARTICIPATION IN THE UHIN NETWORK NO LATER THAN JANUARY 1, 2024.
Every patient deserves a full, dynamic portrait of their care story. We believe in our power to create a more vibrant and complete picture together.
The HIT Conference will feature four tracks with sessions covering topics like population health, interoperability, care delivery, and health equity, as well as popular sessions from previous PES conferences, like “Medicare Hot Topics” with Lori Weber and the Payer Panel. Join other healthcare professionals and attend sessions by esteemed speakers from the State of Utah, Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), University of Utah Health, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Noridian Healthcare Solutions, BYU, AUCH, Comagine, SLCo Health Department, UHIN, and more to be announced!
This event is tailored for professionals across the healthcare ecosystem, such as CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, Chief Medical Officers, VPs, directors, doctors, nurses, administrators, office managers, billers, educators and many more roles at health plans, hospital systems, providers, clinics, higher education institutes, and nonprofit organizations.
PES at HIT
For the first time ever, we’ve combined the annual Provider Education Summit (PES) and the HIT conference into a one-day, hybrid event. PES is an educational event for health plans and providers, billers, office managers, coders, administrators and more. PES will have a dedicated track, Provider Education, at the HIT conference this year.
Welcome Keynote
Rich Saunders
Chief Innovation Officer, Utah
Rich Saunders is Utah’s first chief innovation officer and is charged to help lead the Cox-Henderson administration’s commitment to aggressively upgrade state government efficiencies, innovations, and responsiveness to Utah residents, including a world-class customer experience initiative, and organizing the One Utah Health Collaborative nonprofit. Rich previously served as the executive director of the Utah Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and before state government, was an entrepreneur for 25 years with extensive experience in multiple verticals and significant sales networks nationwide. Rich has an ongoing passion for leadership, knowledge, organizational health, and service to his community.
Closing Session
Brittany Bowe
Olympic Speed Skater and Medalist
Three-time Olympian, Two-time Olympic medalist, 1,000-meter world record holder
Brittany Bowe led the way for Team USA as the flag bearer for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. She is a Three-time Olympian and Two-time Olympic medalist who gave up her spot in the 500m at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games for Teammate Erin Jackson – recognized as one of the most selfless acts in Olympic history.
1,000-meter world record holder… Reigning 1,000-meter season-long world cup champion… Won seven consecutive 1,000-meter world cup races from December 2018 to December 2019, the longest win streak by a U.S. woman. She helped end a 12-year U.S. women’s drought with an Olympic bronze medal in the team pursuit, and finished top-five in all four of her races at the 2018 Olympics. She is also a Six-time world champion, 20-time world championship medalist and 73-time world cup medalist.
As a gay athlete and LGBTQ+ advocate, uses her platform to promote inclusion and support others. She volunteers as an ambassador for nonprofits Right to Play and Athlete Ally.
Brittany suffered a concussion while training for the 2018 Olympics and was diagnosed with POTS, which means the body does not control blood pressure or heart rate after you stand up. She overcame her fear from that setback and, through an aggressive rehab program, returned to the podium.
Brittany previously played college basketball at Florida Atlantic University and won 32 world championship medals in inline skating before switching to ice. She is dedicated to maintaining a healthy balance between the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of life, and is working toward her yoga teacher certification. Also, Brittany is a cat owner.
Motto: “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect!”
Tracks and Speakers
10:00 a.m. “A Novel Outpatient Complex Care Model – Using Claims Data for Risk Stratification and Evaluation” Dr. Peter Weir | Executive Medical Director of Population Health, University of Utah Health
Read more
A review of the Intensive Outpatient Clinic – highly coordinated and integrated care for Medicaid members with complex mental and medical health problems that result in high utilization.
11:00 a.m. “Partnerships to Increase HPV Vaccine Rates for Utah’s Community Health Centers” Shlisa Hughes | Quality Improvement Director, AUCH
Read more
AUCH is committed to preventing HPV related cancers through improving HPV vaccination rates. AUCH has partnered with Huntsman Center for HOPE, the U of U, Huntsman Cancer Center, the American Cancer Society and the UDHHS, and Utah’s Federally Qualified Health Centers to use automation and interoperability with clinical workflows to improve immunization rates for Utah’s youth. We will share results and innovations from across the state.
Kassy Keen, MPH | Health Equity Bureau Manager, Salt Lake County Health Department
Read more
Health equity has gained increased attention, resources, and support as COVID-19 and social justice movements transform our communities. Often we discuss health equity frameworks, which can be abstract and confusing, offering little guidance around implementation. So, what does it look like to incorporate health equity into systems, programs, and policies in the medical and health field? In this presentation, we will discuss operationalizing health equity, and explore a broad scope of tangible ideas to build capacity, and instill new processes, procedures, and data to create better outcomes for our communities.
2:00 p.m.Orion Health Presentation Chad Peterson | Chief Revenue Officer, Orion Health
3:00 p.m. “Using Analytics to Improve Personal and Population Health“ Sara Hallvik | Vice President of Data Solutions, Comagine Health
Read more
Health data can be a powerful tool in improving both personal and population health, but one must consider several factors first. Data governance determines who and how data is used. Data quality determines whether results can be trusted. Combining data sources increases the complexity but can also increase the power of the data. This opens the way to descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, where one can harness their data’s true potential.
10:00 a.m. “Why Are We Still Challenged by Identity Matching and Data Quality?Follow Oscar’s Patient Journey” Gregg Church | President, 4medica, Inc.
Read more
Access to accurate, complete, and timely data is one of the most valuable assets in any healthcare organization. The push toward value-based care and population health initiatives including the response to COVID-19 have amplified the need for efficient exchange of quality patient data, filling gaps in information and offering providers and payers a more complete picture of the patient. Quality data improves care coordination, clinical outcomes, and saves lives but can only be achieved with accurate patient identification or matching across multiple sources.
Learning Objectives:
The need for exchanging reliable clinical and administrative data in “real time” for better care coordination and population health management
How patient data is being exchanged securely and reliably for care coordination decisions
How HIE’s and health networks use quality health data to exchange and provide ‘actionable’ data insights in and out of their community
11:00 a.m.“Setting Utah’s Standards: You Hold the Power” Boyd Kreeck | Business Analyst, UHIN
Read more
The UHIN Standards Organization is a nonprofit, broad-based coalition of Utah healthcare insurers, providers, and others, including local government entities. The purpose of the Standards Committee is to develop administrative, technical, and billing standards and specifications based on existing federal and state regulation.
Standards created by the committee and approved by the UHIN Board are provided to the Utah State Department of Insurance, Utah Health and Human Services and published in State Rules and made available to the public at UHIN.org. In addition to developing Utah Standards, the UHIN Standards Committee participates in the development of National standards and guidance.
1:00 p.m. “The Present and Future of HIEs“ Michelle Suitor | Director of the Clinical Health Information Exchange, UHIN
Read more
A discussion on the history of interoperability and an overview of the various standards covered from both the claims and clinical standpoint. This session will explore what that means for Utah, and provide examples of specific use cases.
2 p.m. “Coordinating and Aligning Health IT: An update on nationwide health IT and interoperability goals” Micky Tripathi, Ph.D., M.P.P. | National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Read more
Join ONC’s National Coordinator Micky Tripathi for updates on:
ONC’s work to align health IT activities across HHS agencies
How the Trusted Exchange Framework, Common Agreement (TEFCA) will ease information sharing across networks of EHRs and other health IT systems
The continued implementation and enforcement of the information blocking regulations
Data standardization efforts to promote equity, reduce disparities, and support public health data interoperability
And more!
3:00 p.m. “HIE Transformation: It’s About More Than Data“ Mary-Sara Jones | Sr. Business Development Executive, Health & Human Services, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Read more
The Public Health landscape is changing. It is getting broader and deeper. The global pandemic highlighted fragmentation across and within organizations and the incompleteness of the data available to decision makers. There is a hunger for better, richer, cleaner data to support more holistic decisions and move efforts toward prevention. For many states data modernization and digital transformation will occur in parallel. Immediate updates to shared data infrastructure can provide meaningful insights while updated paradigms of service delivery are reimagined with modern technology to better meet provider and constituent expectations. Health Information Exchanges play a central role in creating and maintaining a connected data ecosystem driving improved patient outcomes and community vitality. This presentation with Natasha Nicolai explores future models for HIEs, how data transformation can provide immediate community impact, and what is required to create the parallel path to digital transformation.
3:00 p.m. “HIE Transformation: It’s About More Than Data“ Natasha Nicolai | AWS WWPS SLG Leader, Health and Human Services Analytics, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Read more
The Public Health landscape is changing. It is getting broader and deeper. The global pandemic highlighted fragmentation across and within organizations and the incompleteness of the data available to decision makers. There is a hunger for better, richer, cleaner data to support more holistic decisions and move efforts toward prevention. For many states data modernization and digital transformation will occur in parallel. Immediate updates to shared data infrastructure can provide meaningful insights while updated paradigms of service delivery are reimagined with modern technology to better meet provider and constituent expectations. Health Information Exchanges play a central role in creating and maintaining a connected data ecosystem driving improved patient outcomes and community vitality. This presentation with Mary-Sara Jones explores future models for HIEs, how data transformation can provide immediate community impact, and what is required to create the parallel path to digital transformation.
10:00 a.m. “Beating Hypertension, the Silent Killer“ Nickee Andjelic, MS, CHES | Maternal and Infant Health Program Manager, Utah Department of Health and Human Services
Read more
The Utah 6|18 Workgroup is a cross-collaborative workgroup focusing on addressing 6 high-cost and preventable health conditions with 18 evidence-based and cost-effective interventions. For 2022, the workgroup selected to focus on self-monitoring blood pressure (SMBP) by hypertensive patients with clinical support to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Hypertension is the silent killer and is a comorbidity and risk factor for a number of other chronic conditions. One in 4 Utah adults have diagnosed hypertension and 15-30% of Utah adults have undiagnosed hypertension. Strong evidence supports that SMBP interventions, when combined with additional support like patient counseling, education, or web-based support, are effective in improving blood pressure outcomes in patients with high blood pressure. Home blood pressure monitors are a covered benefit under Utah Medicaid and many resources are available to support clinic training and member education to encourage accurate SMBP and clinical support.
10:00 a.m. “Beating Hypertension, the Silent Killer“ Dr. Richard Ferguson | Chief Medical Officer, Health Choice Utah
Read more
The Utah 6|18 Workgroup is a cross-collaborative workgroup focusing on addressing 6 high-cost and preventable health conditions with 18 evidence-based and cost-effective interventions. For 2022, the workgroup selected to focus on self-monitoring blood pressure (SMBP) by hypertensive patients with clinical support to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Hypertension is the silent killer and is a comorbidity and risk factor for a number of other chronic conditions. One in 4 Utah adults have diagnosed hypertension and 15-30% of Utah adults have undiagnosed hypertension. Strong evidence supports that SMBP interventions, when combined with additional support like patient counseling, education, or web-based support, are effective in improving blood pressure outcomes in patients with high blood pressure. Home blood pressure monitors are a covered benefit under Utah Medicaid and many resources are available to support clinic training and member education to encourage accurate SMBP and clinical support.
10:00 a.m. “Beating Hypertension, the Silent Killer“ Rachel Vasquez | Quality Program Manager, Health Choice Utah
Read more
The Utah 6|18 Workgroup is a cross-collaborative workgroup focusing on addressing 6 high-cost and preventable health conditions with 18 evidence-based and cost-effective interventions. For 2022, the workgroup selected to focus on self-monitoring blood pressure (SMBP) by hypertensive patients with clinical support to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Hypertension is the silent killer and is a comorbidity and risk factor for a number of other chronic conditions. One in 4 Utah adults have diagnosed hypertension and 15-30% of Utah adults have undiagnosed hypertension. Strong evidence supports that SMBP interventions, when combined with additional support like patient counseling, education, or web-based support, are effective in improving blood pressure outcomes in patients with high blood pressure. Home blood pressure monitors are a covered benefit under Utah Medicaid and many resources are available to support clinic training and member education to encourage accurate SMBP and clinical support.
11:00 a.m. “The Challenge is HOW not Why: Integrating the Social Determinants of Health in Healthcare“ Dr. Len Novilla | Associate Professor, BYU
1:00 p.m. “Countering Cybersecurity Risks Across Your Organization” Keith Roberts | Information Security Analyst, UHIN
Read more
Presentation on the importance of cybersecurity in healthcare. We’ll look at a recent data breach investigations report, how to stop cybersecurity, and the importance of staff training.
2:00 p.m. “Decentralized Identity and Verifiable Credentials in Health Care“ George McEwan | Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Department of Government Operations at the State of Utah
Read more
On May 26th, 2011 Google introduced Google Wallet on android phones. Not to be left out of a really good marking term, Apple followed suit on September 19th 2012, launching Apple Wallet. Ten years later and it is still “novel” to pay with a phone. What happened and why does it matter now?
The future of legally binding, decentralized digital identity and verifiable credentials has expanded beyond simple digital wallets and is debuting in government in the near future. This session provides the background you’ll need to participate in the next identity revolution.
3:00 p.m. “Intro and Overview of the One Utah Health Collaborative“ James Wissler | Executive Director, One Utah Health Collaborative
Read more
This intro/overview of the One Utah Health Collaborative will have an emphasis on the barriers and the importance of community alignment regarding interoperability. A panel of innovators, clinicians, and interoperability experts will join Jaime Wissler to discuss the questions of how and why we’re working toward a longitudinal health record.
10:00 a.m. “Motivating for Performance: How Leaders Can Help Teams Find Their Drive” Blake Bishop | Vice President of Data Services, Neovest, a JPMorgan Chase subsidiary
Read more
Intrinsic motivation plays a pivotal role in organizational performance management. Not surprisingly, there is a strong correlation between employee motivation and business success. The factors that drive the desire to perform, however, may come as a surprise to many. In this presentation, we will explore what intrinsic motivation is, why intrinsic motivation matters, and how you as a leader can motivate your team members to perform at their peak.
11:00 a.m. “Medicare Hot Topics” Lori Weber | Provider Relations Specialist, Noridian Healthcare Solutions
Read more
This presentation encompasses updates, important topics and valuable resources to assist your practice with successful Medicare billing.
1:00 p.m.“Life of a Claim: Creation, Rejection, Elation” Joy Cone | Application Support Analyst, UHIN
2:00 p.m.MYUHINClaims Greg Lobato | Group Product Manager, UHIN
3:00 p.m. Payer Panel Representatives from DMBA, EMI, HCU, Noridian Medicare B, PEHP, Regence, SelectHealth, and University of Utah Health Plans
Read more
Q&A session with a panel of provider relations specialists and representatives from national and local, Utah health plans. This popular session answers some of providers most pressing questions. In previous years, questions have included:
Which are the most common errors that keep claims from processing?
What are the procedure codes with modifiers that should be used for phone visits for each insurance company?
Are all the payers reimbursing for Telehealth visits at the same rates as in person visits during the pandemic?
Sponsors
Platinum
Gold
Silver
Venue
Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek
75 S W Temple Street Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Free parking for 2022 HIT Conference attendees
REFUND POLICY
We will accept refund requests up to 10 days following the date of the conference. To be eligible for a refund, you must submit via email to events@uhin.org. In your email, include your name, order number, and number of tickets to be refunded, as well as a reason for the refund request.
Once we receive your request, we will review and notify you on the status of your refund. If your request is approved, we will initiate a refund to your credit card or original method of payment.
Please contact events@uhin.org with any additional questions.
77% of claims submitted identified providers as potential actor; only two claims identified HIEs
New ONC data shows almost 300 claims of healthcare organizations allegedly blocking access to patient data. Since information blocking regulations went into effect last April, the ONC has received 274 possible claims of information blocking.
Of those claims, 176 were submitted by patients. The majority of claims submitted (211) identified a “health care provider” as the potential actor, with 42 claims naming health information technology developers, and only two claims identifying health information exchanges.
Claim Counts by Types of Claimant
Claim Counts by Potential Actor
Source: Information Blocking Claims: By the Numbers – https://www.healthit.gov/data/quickstats/information-blocking-claims-numbers
“…the circumstances described in the claims may offer insight into potential impediments to EHI access, exchange, or use,” wrote ONC executives Rachel Nelson and Cassie Weaver in a release article. “Though we cannot tell through simple triage whether a particular claim represents information blocking as defined in the regulations, some of the concerns described in the claims we have received appear on their face consistent with examples of practices likely to interfere with access, exchange, or use of EHI that we described in ONC’s Cures Act proposed and final rules.”
In accordance with the 21st Century Cures Act, the ONC seeks to stop certain information blocking practices. New rules were issued in 2020 regarding information blocking regulations with compliance dates going into effect April 5, 2021.
UHIN has long been a proponent of interoperability across the healthcare industry. Our vision is to create a more connected healthcare system that drives innovation, collaboration, and inclusiveness.
The CHIE is an important source of data for Maliheh Free Clinic’s vulnerable patients.
The Maliheh Free Clinic’s patient population is a particularly vulnerable one.
Since Maliheh serves a demographic of patients that sit at up to 200% of the national poverty line, they don’t always have steady access to patient data or even contact information. Their patient population often has limited access to technology, and the clinic itself relies on access to Utah’s two major hospital systems’ EHRs. While this access covers some of their patients, Maliheh staff runs into challenges finding critical information on previous treatment: prescription information, lab results, and other data from other providers and facilities.
With only these tools, Maliheh’s process looks like this:
A new patient with medical data in another system must fill out a Medical Records Request form for each current or past provider. The form is mailed or faxed to each provider, and the patient is evaluated and treated to the best of the clinicians’ ability without previous medical history.
After that, well, the process is a little less clear-cut. Several possible barriers exist at this stage: the form needs to first reach the target provider, and they must actually send back the requested medical information. Sometimes, this requires Maliheh to send the request multiple times to try to get what they need. Once they have the information, staff must then track the patient down so they can provide care- and again, patients may not have steady contact information or addresses, and may have high difficulty in finding time to come back for another appointment. Ideally, Maliheh will provide as much care as possible to the patient on the first visit, but in cases such as these, it’s simply not possible.
Implementing The CHIE to tackle data gaps
In 2018, Maliheh heard about UHIN via an informaticist from one of the Utah health systems. With their small staff (only 12 contracted FTEs), it was going to be difficult to work on integrating a new program into their workflow, but UHIN’s Enrollment Team actively worked with clinic staff to make sure they could get some kind of access to the CHIE, UHIN’s Health Information Exchange tool. The clinic had no extra time to train up any tool experts on their own staff, but UHIN’s team was there for that as well, helping to resolve any usage or technical questions that arose.
Maliheh found that they suddenly had access to patient data and patient matching services for dozens of patients that would have been previously underserved.
As a result of implementing the CHIE as a supplemental data source, Maliheh found that they suddenly had access to patient data and patient matching services for dozens of patients that would have been previously underserved. When a patient’s missing data was in the CHIE, all of the time that their staff spend searching for documentation and trying to send communications could simply be spent providing care to their vulnerable populations. The CHIE was able to help Maliheh avoid long waits for paperwork, lost appointments, and missed care opportunities.
“It’s invaluable to us, it’s like Christmas when we find something in the CHIE. It’s really exciting.”
The CHIE was a solution for the information gaps in Maliheh’s EHR data and their patients’ knowledge of their own care history. With its help, Maliheh is able to provide care to hundreds more patients every year. “It’s invaluable to us,” said Nicole Mohr, Care Coordinator at the Maliheh Free Clinic. “It’s like Christmas when we find something in the CHIE. It’s really exciting.”
UHIN and Western Colorado’s Quality Health Network (QHN) are pleased to announce a more tightly linked connection between our health information exchanges which will improve patient outcomes, improve efficiencies, and help reduce costs in a shared coverage area throughout many parts of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming that includes more than a 100 hospitals and thousands of providers. The new real-time delivery of data between the two health information exchanges allows for clinical event data to be automatically delivered to the electronic health record (EHR) systems of providers who have a treating relationship with the patient and have subscribed to the services (Not subscribed? Contact our CHIE Team to get started!). The information will also be made available via query for authorized providers who may have a treating relationship with the patient in the future.
The ongoing patient data exchange between UHIN and QHN is initially triggered when a patient visits any of the Provider Participants of either QHN or UHIN. The health data delivered includes but is not limited to admission and discharge information, diagnostic laboratory and radiology results as well as care episode documentation from Emergency Room, Surgeries, as well as other Procedural Reports.
While both QHN and UHIN have been exchanging health data via query/response methods exchange since 2016, the stakeholders of both organizations have long hoped for the automated delivery of clinical data directly into providers’ health record systems. The new exchange modalities make this a reality and have been in production since May of 2021. The results of the exchange is already proving positive for both patients and providers.
Let’s Show You How It Works
Meet Travis. Travis lives in Grand Junction, CO. He has high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, is a bit overweight and a diabetic. He decided to exercise more and loves to bike, but he took a hard fall mountain biking in eastern Utah and was sent to Moab, UT for medical care. Before this data exchange enhancement, Travis’s Grand Junction doctors may not have known that Travis got hurt, much less where or how he might have been treated or what follow up care might be required to allow for Travis’s return to mountain biking. With this new exchange modality in place, Travis’ Moab doctor can query UHIN for information about Travis’ pre-existing conditions (including information from his Grand Junction primary care, cardiology, and endocrinology providers) and make better decisions about Travis’ immediate care needs.
Travis’ Grand Junction doctors are alerted that Travis’ had an accident and details of the care he received in Moab because that information is delivered automatically into the EHR’s of the Grand Junction doctors. Any follow up care Travis receives from the Grand Junction doctors is copied to the Moab doctor’s EHR for as long as the Moab doctor subscribes to Travis’ information. So both sets of physicians can collaborate on the care of Travis and get him back safely riding as soon as possible.
This is next-level patient centric care collaboration, is automatically triggered by patient care events, with data delivered directly into the EHR’s of treating providers. It means that Travis’s health information automatically follows him wherever he receives care for as long as his providers are subscribed to his information through either through QHN or UHIN. Even without subscription, Travis’ data is still available to treating providers via query/response data exchange between the two health information networks.
The two organizations have a long history of collaboration and this is just one of the many ways we continue to connect people for better health across Utah and the mountain West. We are Better Together.
Ready to get set up with the CHIE? Contact our team today to Get Started.
Cache Valley Hospital (formerly called Cache Valley Specialty Hospital) is once again contributing data to the CHIE as of March 14, 2016.
Cache Valley is a long-time CHIE supporter. The hospital initially began contributing data to the CHIE in 2013. Upon becoming part of HCA/MountainStar in 2015, they switched to HCA’s health information technology system. Cache Valley is now contributing laboratory, radiology and transcription reports, as well as sending CHIE Alert notifications when a patient has an encounter at their facility.
The 22-bed hospital in Logan offers a range of specialty treatments, acute care and rehabilitation services.
Cache Valley Hospital also served as the pilot provider when the CHIE was connected to send immunization data to the Utah Statewide Immunization Information System (USIIS) in November 2015.
